Method of purifying and sterilizing liquid.



G. W. SWINBURNE. METHOD OF PURIFYING AND STERILIZING LIQUID.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21,1910.

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INVENTOH W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE w. swmnunun, or nAs'r ORANGE, ew JERSEY, ASSIGNOR T STERILIZA- TION COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

METHOD or IPURIFYING AND STERILIZING LIQUID.

Specification of Letters l atent.

Application filed June 21, 1910. Serial No: 568,112.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. SWIN- DURNE, a citizen of the United States, residing at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of" New Jersey, have invented certain Improvements in Methods of Purifying and-Sterilizing Liquid, of which the following. is a specification.

The objects of this invention are to purify and sterilize sewage or the like, or to sterilize water, such as the supply of municipalities; to do this by freeing chlorin and oxygen by electrolytic action; to increase the efficiency of an electrolytic apparatus so that a greater volume of liquid can be treated in a given time ;'-t-o. reduce the cost of destroying the impurities and germs and oxygen while in a nascent state, and to obtain other advantages and results as may be brought out in. the following description,

Referring to the accompanying drawings,

in which like numerals of reference indicate the same parts throughout the several figures, Figure 1 is'a plan of an apparatus which can be utilized for carrying out my improved process; Fig. 2 showsthe same in side elevation, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section on line 3'3, Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow. I

In carrying outn y invention, -I add to the liquid to be-purified and sterilized, or simply sterilized, some compound of chlorin, so as to introduce into said liquid more combined chlorin than it originally c0ntain Any chlorid can be used, but in practice sodium chlorid or common salt will probably be pre ferred on account of its cheapness. I do not restrict myself thereto, however. v The chlorid may be introduced either as a solution, in powdered form, or in any other way, and any suitable means for introducing the chlorid may be employed. It is preferable upon introduction of the chlorid to mix it thoroughly with the liquid to be purified or sterilized, and any suitable means may be employed for such mixing, as necessary or desirable. The amount of chlorin introduced varies according to the quantity of the available chlorin already. in the liquid to be treated, and also according to the degree of purification or sterilization which is desired.

The liquid to be purified or sterilized, after havlng the chlorid mixed with 1t-, is submitted to electrolytic action in any suitplace fully and completely.

able'and well-known manner, as by causingthe mixture to flow past suitable electrodes. By this electrolysis bothv the water of the liquid and the cl lorid which has been mixed with it are decomposed, and a. portion of the oxygen from the water, ifnites with the chlo rin and its base to form ahypochlorite, the rest of they oxygen being freed ina nascent form. In the presence of organic impurities in a liquid to be purified, the chlorin of the hypochlorite unites with the organic mat ter, liberating more oxygen in nascent form and all this nascent oxygen in turn acts upon more oganic matter. chlorin and oxygen freed by these reactions is obviously greatly increased by reason of the chlorid which has been previously mixed with the liquid and thus as high a degree of purification can be obtained as is desired.

.In other words, by my improved process Patented Nov. 25, 1913.

The amount of complete purification and sterilization can be obtained, and the purification and sterilization can be controlled, as desired, by the amount of chlorid added.

After the electrolytic action the liquid is preferably run through a retention tank and may even be allowed to stand for a period of time, for example, 'an hour or two. The purpose of this is to provide opportunity for the secondary reactions ,in the purification and sterilization to take place, which are merely chemical reactions and require some interval of time in which to take Under some conditions, it may be sufiicient to simply retard the flow of the liquid for thispurpose,

without stopping it entirely. In any event, when the liquid has passed this detention period, if employed, my improved process of purification andsterilizatio'n is complete.

It is a feature of my invention that the liquid is discharged from the electrolytic apparatus, as into the retention tank or the like, without retarding its passage through said electrolytic apparatus. In other words, the liquid flows unobstructedly over the elcctrolytic plates and after being acted upon thereby all of the liquid together with the products resulting from theelectrolytieaction are dischargcd'from thev electrolyzing apparatus with an unretarded passage therethrough, said liquid a'nd'products of electrolysis being afterward confined, retarded or held up for the secondary or time reactions which will complete the purification or sterilization. This enables me to conduct the liquid to be treated rapidly through the elec The apparatus for carrying out my improved process forms no part of the present unvention claimed herein, but for purposes or illustration I have shown in the drawing anapparatus which could be used for carry;

out the process.

i1 said drawing 1 indicates a pipe or duct of any sort adapted to supply the liquid to be purified and sterilized, said duct 1 being adapted to discharge into a trough 2. Said trough is shown upon supports 4 and slightly inclined so'as to cause the liquid to flow slowly along it, the incline being exaggerated in the drawing to show In ore clearly. l. have shown the trough 2 as rectangular in cross-section and with an open top, although it might be of other form or construction. Adjacent to the end of the duct 1, where it discharges into the trough 2 is a tube 5 through which the chlorid may be discharged in any desired quantity into the stream from the duct 1. The mingled streams from the duct 1 and tube 5 fall into the trough and are mixed by any-suitable means such as the ballle plates 6 to 9 inelusive which project alternately from opposite sides of the trough 2. Beyond the said baffle plates, in the course of the liquid along the trou'gl'i 2, are arranged setslfi and of: electrodes, which 1 have shown placed vertically and longitudinally of the trough. although they might be otherwise arranged. The plates ll, 13 and 15 of one set are connected in parallel by a wire 17 and constitute one of the electrodes, while the other plates 12 and 14 are connected by another Zire 16 and constitute the other electrode. Similarly the plates 21,93 and of the set 20 are connected by a wire 27, and the other plates 22 andf xi by a wire 26. The wires 17 and 27 lead to a main wire 30 and the wires '16 and 26 lead to a main wire 31. In practice, the direction of current is reversed from time to time so that each connect-ed group of plates in a set is alternately the anode and the cathode. Any number of of electrodes n'ia-y be employed as desired I the ele trodes. the trough dia; hes and 33, access to of h may be closed by a so? 34- which leave b other oz:

' .2. A process of purifying and sterilizing retardin open, said gate oeing controlled by a hand wheel 35. Each of the branches of the trough'Q leads to a tank, as 36 for the branch 32-, and 37 for the branch 33. Outlet pipes 38 and 39 lead from the said tanks 36, 37, respectively, to a common flow pipe 40 into communication with'which either outlet 38 or 39 may be placed by a suitable. valve controlled by a hand wheel 41, while the other outlet is shut off fromthe flow pipe 40, or both outlet-s ma be closed.

In practice, liquid is allowed to flow from the trough 2 through one branch as 33 until that tank 37 is full, the valve at 41 being closed to that branch meanwhile. The gate 34 is then swung to direct the flow from the trough 2 through the other branch 32 into the tank 36, and the filled tank 37 is.

allowed to stand until the other tank 36 is half full, for example. The outlet valve is then turned by its hand wheel 41 to permit escape from the tank 37 through its outlet 39 into the main pipe 40, the outlet 38 from the other tankremaining closed meanwhile. The size of the outlets 39 and 38 is such that either tank 37 or 36 will be emptied in half the time required to fill it, and hence when the outlet from the tank 37 is opened as above-described, said tank will be empty by the time theother tank 36 is filled. The outlet of tank 37 isthen closed and the gate 34 swung to direct flow thereinto; The tank 36 is allowed to stand, in turn, until the tank 37 is half full, when its outlet is openedand its contents discharged; In this manner the liquid remains stationary for a. time. so as to allow opportunity for the secondary reactions to take place fully and completely. Obviously, the said tanks may be of any desired size or number, and may be arranged to hold their contents for-any desired length of time.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

1. A process of purifying and sterilizing sewage or other liquid containing a chlorid,

consisting in. conducting the liquid into an electrolyziugapparatus, discharging the liquid from' s-aid apparatus with anunretarded passage therethrough, and afterward confinin the liquid until the products resulting rom the'act-ion of the products of electrolysis upon the liquid have. also reacted upon the liquid.

sewage or other liquid containing achlorid, consisting in conducting the liquidv into an electrolyzing' apparatus, discharging the liquid from said apparatus with an unretarded passage therethrough, and afterward the liquid until the products resulting mm the, action of the products of electrolysis .upon the liquid have also reacted upon the liquid. a i A process of purifying and sterilizing sewage or other liquid containing a chlorid, electrolysis upon the Lquid have also reactefi consisting in conducting the liquie into an upon the liquid. electrolyzing apparatus, discharging the *n" ,J'Jffi 7R. 1 liquid from said apparatus with an unrel All tarded passage therethr0ugh,and afterward Witnesses:

holding the liquid at rest until the products RUSSELL M. EVERETT,

resulting fromtheaction bf the products of FRANCES E. warn. 

